Great action. Characters... not so much

Rating: 7/10 (15 July 2013)

Not a fan of blockbuster movies, I was dragged to see this by some friends. In the first part of the movie I was pleasantly surprised. The scenes were visually beautiful and the plot was interesting. It will still require lot of suspension of disbelief because the basic premise, that the most efficient method of killing giant animals is constructing giant robots to punch them, is ridiculous. If you can accept this, the movie will be very enjoyable...
...at least until the Hong Kong base part. We'll meet a lot of characters there who are best described as caricatures. They are single-dimensional and their interactions are forced and annoying. I hold two hysterical scientists and all the Jaeger pilots in this group. The altercations between the main character and another pilot, and between the main character and the general are grating. They can only appeal to 10-year olds in the audience and their idea of how Real Tough Men act like.
Fortunately the female lead makes up for this by being an original and interesting character (unlike her male counterpart), and a knife-wielding Ron Perlman would be beneficial to any movie. They will help the transition to the final fight.
In conclusion, not a masterpiece but a decent monster-robot blockbuster.